October 2008 management briefing

The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round is now at a crossroads. After coming to a hair’s breadth of striking a deal at a ministerial summit in July, there is now a serious risk that agreements wrung from these seven years of discussions could now unravel. If trade ministers are prepared to return to Geneva to solve the limited range of issues over which they were unable to reach agreement, a Doha deal could be secured this year. But, this seems unlikely, with the US president

The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round is now at a crossroads. After coming to a hair’s breadth of striking a deal at a ministerial summit in July, there is now a serious risk that agreements wrung from these seven years of discussions could now unravel. If trade ministers are prepared to return to Geneva to solve the limited range of issues over which they were unable to reach agreement, a Doha deal could be secured this year. But, this seems unlikely, with the US presidential election looming. In this month's briefing, we assess the prospects of the WTO recovering from this latest setback and consider what is at stake.